Eyes of the Heart
by Bethgreenewarriorprincess
Summary: Beth and Daryl are reunited in Alexandria but can they figure out a way to bridge the gap in their relationship? Beth seems broken and Daryl is just angry. Can they navigate their relationship now that they are back together? Beth is no longer the doe-eyed innocent from before. Daryl is no longer the brooding angry soul. What does all this mean for them? Rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

Around the Sun

Beth caught him staring at her again. Daryl had been doing that more lately, when he thought she wasn't looking. She caught him again now and her heart ached as that "look" crossed his face, his jaw set in a hard line. Normally he would be grabbing up his bow and stalking off into the woods. Into the woods even though they were safely ensconced within the walls of Alexandria. He'd come back hours later and she'd see him later that night slinking back in well after midnight, crossbow slung over his back and a weight in his step. He'd always glance over to her house she stayed in with Maggie and Glenn and she could never be sure he saw her. She was safely entrenched in the shadows of the front porch of the two bedroom row house down the main street of the district they had been assigned to. She couldn't make out his eyes either although she could guess what she would find there. Anger.

She'd been mesmerized by those eyes ever since their last night together before she had stupidly thought that he might be looking at her in a different way. In the way that Glenn looked at Maggie. In the way that her dearly departed Daddy had looked at her mama, departed as well but Beth wasn't so sure about the dearly part. The way her mama had left this world, twice, was not fit for any memorial service Beth could bring to mind. If she really thought about it, the look Daryl got in his eyes sometimes now, haunted her. Crept right into her brain at night and seeped into her consciousness to the point that she could see his eyes behind her own closed lids as though he could see into her soul.

He'd been giving her the silent treatment since they'd arrived a few nights ago. Beth had already been there although she hadn't been there long. She'd come in a mere day prior to their group. She had scarcely believed it when she arrived, Jamie, Barry, and Pixie in tow. Pixie was one of the girls from the hospital. She was a tiny sprite of a girl, small, blond, twelve and fiery as a barn cat, she reminded Beth a lot of herself at the same age. Jamie and Barry were the other two girls that had made it out of there with her, both of them quiet but stealthy warriors who'd fought their way here just as hard as she had.

She guessed she deserved the way he was shutting her out. She couldn't really blame him. He had told her plenty of times to stay close to him when the walkers crawled out of the woodwork of the broken landscape that was their world now.

The one time she had actually listened to him had been the night to nearly get her killed. She had been hit by the car that she later learned took her away from Daryl that night. Away from the one constant in her life, the only one she had left.

xxx-xxx

Daryl couldn't figure why she kept looking at him that way. If she was trying to make him feel like shit, it sure as hell was working. He didn't say anything though. He knew he had more than earned himself a place on her shit list. He'd lost her after all. He'd told her that he'd protect her and when the chips were down he had failed her miserably. Had failed them all.

He wanted to ask her. Wanted to ask her who hurt her. How had she gotten the scar on her cheek? It had enraged him when he'd seen it. He had gone by her, hugged her like everyone else but he didn't say anything. He didn't trust his traitorous mouth to speak in her presence, not when his emotions were running so high and he was subject to her outright rejecting him if he told her how much he'd missed her. How she'd been right the whole time. They were all alive. Well most of them anyway but Daryl pushed that thought away.

They were at an impasse he figured. She was sitting on her front step and he was heading out the door when this current stare-down started. He got so pissed off all the sudden that when she got up to go in the house, he opened his mouth and the words spilled out of him. "Greene, come over here." He spoke up only a little because while he had no neighbors on this side of the street, he had no way of knowing if Maggie and Glenn were inside the house or not.

His eyes met hers and he was guessing her surprised expression mirrored his own. She turned to face him slowly.

Beth couldn't believe her ears when she heard his voice call out her name. It was only her last name but she'd take it. She knew there was a lot of push and pull, give and take where Daryl was concerned. At least when it came to him being vocal or initiating a conversation.

Before she could even think it through she walked over to his porch and met him on the top step and followed his example as he sunk himself down to sit, his palms resting on his thighs.

They sat there for a long time. Long enough for Beth to wonder if she imagined that he had asked her to come over.

"I'm sorry." It was none of the things he thought he'd say but he guessed it was the most accurate.

Beth looked at Daryl in surprise as his eyes met hers. "_You're_ sorry?"

Daryl looked puzzled but he continued. "For telling you to go outside by yourself. That was always against our rules. We never talked about what to do if one of us was injured. I panicked. I should have never told you to leave me there. I know you're pissed at me and I don't blame ya."

Beth looked at him in shock. "Wait you're not mad at _me_?" She could hardly believe it. She began to rethink some of the looks he had been giving her. Now that she had perspective maybe she'd see something different.

"Why would I be mad?" Daryl couldn't figure this girl out sometimes. He reached up and ran a hand through his hair.

"For going out to the road. I know that's what you told me to do but you also told me a million times to stay off the main roads if we were ever separated." Beth looked at him her face awash in anguish and his heart broke.

He had to know then who had done what they had done to her. How she had gotten the scar on her face. He had to know if anyone had laid a hand on her so he could pray they were ushered into hell properly, by the jaws of a walker ripping them apart while they bled out into the ground. He needed to touch her and somehow, in that moment, he knew that she'd not shy away from his touch. Her eyes were too focused on him. He reached his hand up and grasped her chin to gently turn her head into an angle that would let him look at the mark on her face. He let his thumb brush lightly over the smooth column of her throat.

"Who did this?" Daryl's voice was low and ominous and Beth smiled at him.

"Ain't funny Beth. I need to know who did this." His eyes had flashed dark so Beth let him off the hook.

"It's just hard for me to imagine you beating up a car. You love 'em too much." Beth couldn't quite squelch the snort that erupted from her throat.

Daryl looked at her blankly for a moment and felt the corners of his mouth turn up in an honest to god smile, something he had not had in a while. "You always were a smartass, Beth. Good to see you ain't changed." Daryl regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. Because he could see the subtle changes in her. Her smile once bright took a fraction longer to grace her face. The light in her eyes had dimmed somewhat and god help him, she looked nothing like the girl that left the farm. Her features were still soft as they ever were but they no longer held any qualities that made her seem like a teenager. The girl sitting beside him was not a girl but a woman. Any man would have to be blind not to notice. Hell, even Eugene had noticed. The old Daryl had almost emerged when Eugene had thoughtlessly whispered to Tara that Beth was hot. Tara had shot him a warning glance while Daryl had pretended not to hear.

Beth's eyes drew down to the ground then. She had changed. She regretted all the change in her sometimes. "I did change. Some anyway. Guess I got what I wished for." She gave him a wan smile. She knew he'd remember an earlier night on another porch. It seemed like lifetimes ago but the circumstances weren't all that different. They were here now, righting wrongs and forgetting the past. At least Beth hoped so, the bad parts at least. Those weeks away from them all, locked in the hospital, had not been easy on her. The people of the hospital had believed in the "greater good" and their messed up belief system had almost destroyed Beth's own. Almost.

But right now, on the cusp of spilling all of it to Daryl, the only person she felt she could tell any of these things to, she felt like he'd been the one who had been right. That there wasn't anything good out there to see anymore.

Daryl realized that his hand was still on her chin and he let it drop, just barely grazing her shoulder with his fingertips before letting it hang in the air for a moment before letting it rest in his lap, fingers still twitching to clutch her to him.

Beth brought her hand up to her cheek and then up to her forehead, lifting the hair there to show the other scar, a little deeper but more narrow. "You won't need to beat up anyone for this one either. I killed them. Killed _him_." Beth corrected herself, saying it quietly as if maybe if it was spoken in a softer voice the truth wouldn't be as harsh.

Daryl's eyes snapped to hers even as his fists clenched in his lap and he had to chant in his mind in an effort to keep from grabbing up his bow and going hunting. For what he didn't know. Most of the squirrels around this part of the district had migrated back to the woods that edged the safe zone. "Him?" The thought of someone putting their hands on Beth nearly burned him alive like lava coursing through this veins. "He hurt you?"

Beth knew what he was asking and she was glad that at least, for this, she could tell him what he wanted to hear and it was the truth. She shook her head. Bastard Officer Reynolds had taken the cake for assholes of this new world. Word had gotten around that he liked to "initiate" all the girls into the community. JoAnn had refused and it had gotten her killed. It was just poetic justice that his end had been precipitated by the woman tearing his throat out with her teeth, eyes glazed and opaque from death and decay.

He would have died anyway with the knife wound Beth had inflicted into his femoral artery. Daryl had shown her that vulnerable spot long ago and she hadn't forgotten. She knew it was the only thing that kept her from getting raped that night. Her heart still shivered in fear with the thoughts of it and she could still remember how his hands had felt on her. She forced away that feeling of dread and disgust if nothing else than to reassure Daryl that it hadn't been _that_ bad.

"It wasn't anything I couldn't handle." Daryl's hands were smoothing over an imaginary crease in his jeans and at this point, he would have a hole in them soon. Beth moved her hand over to his leg and daringly put her hand over his. He immediately turned his palm over as if his skin was hungry for her touch and he had been waiting on this all along. Then it feels like he is pulling away and her heart nearly breaks but then she realizes he is pulling her to her feet and into his house.

She follows him, curious more than anything else. He has never been this forward with her before. When she thinks about it though she realizes that isn't true. Back at that lovely funeral parlor he had been more and more forward with her, touching her arm or her back or her hand. The looks too. As he pulled her down beside him on the sofa she took in his gaze and realized that she had been wrong about his looks lately too. They mirrored the ones of the funeral home. They mirrored her own.

"Daryl why would you think that I'd blame you? It wasn't your fault." She waited patiently while he gnawed on his thumb.

It was getting dark already and it was dim inside his house but she could make out every emotion plain on his face when he looked at her. "It wasn't your fault either, Beth."

Something broke inside her then, like the wretched dam broke, the one that she wouldn't let breach the whole time she'd been away from him. She had had to be strong. But now all the fight to maintain that composure seemed pointless.

"We all have jobs to do. We don't get to be upset." She sobbed at the last word and dshook her head at him furiously, willing away the tears, willing away the pain that was coming to claim its place. She had shoved it away for so long and now it was demanding its presence to be recognized.

Daryl felt the tug on his heartstrings in that moment, looking at her crying and repeating the words she had often said before. The only thing now was she didn't believe them. Sometimes they had to cry. He knew he had. He had cried like a little bitch the night they had gotten here and he had seen she was indeed safe and sound. Just like they had all tried to tell him she was in one way or another. They never came out and said it. They knew better than to call him out on his feelings. But Beth wouldn't shy away from that. He knew it. Right now though, she was crying her heart out and he reached for her and pulled her against him. She buried her face in his chest and he felt the wet of her tears immediately as she sobbed against him. He brought his hands up to her back and he finally felt like he was home.

He wept with her even as he hated the tears that fell onto her perfect blonde head. After several long minutes she pulled away. "No one will want me now." He had thought his heart had done all the breaking that it could do but he was wrong. That Beth Greene could think that someone wouldn't want her was absurd. He reached down for the second time that night and tilted her chin up. "Look at me. It don't matter."

"It does matter." Her eyes flickered with determination. "I used to be vain. Maybe I still am if I care about something as stupid as scars. None of it should matter. But they're ugly." Beth had always thought herself to be the pretty one.

"You're fuckin' beautiful. Don't you ever say otherwise." The fierceness surprised even him.

Even as her heart thrilled a little at his words, she knew he was just saying that to make her feel better. She shrugged.

He reached up and began unbuttoning his flannel shirt. Beth's eyes went wide. "Daryl?"

As he eased the shirt from his shoulders and turned around she realized what he was trying to do. His shirt fell to the couch and she resisted the urge to reach out and trace her fingers along the lines she had seen so often but only in a glancing manner because she knew how sensitive he was about them. But after everything they had shared between that moonshine shack and this little row house, this was the final layer of the onion peel.

"It's just skin Beth. Just something else that makes us who we are." He turned back around and faced her. "Didn't you say it? That I gotta stay who I am and not who I was. I did it. You taught me that Beth. That I could change. So you've got a couple scars. It just makes you a badass like me." He dared to lean towards her in his shirtless state, and nudge her arm with his shoulder.

She looked at him and smiled sheepishly and then the most unexpected thing happened. She laughed.

He laughed with her. Her face splitting into that grin he had fallen in love with in the first place was everything to him. "I hate what you went through. Wish I could change it. But you're here now. That's everything." He looked at her taking in his words and he faltered. "Right?"

Beth moved her hand from his lap and mimicked his earlier movements, cupping her hand around his jaw. "You are an amazing man Daryl Dixon." She said.

He snorted derisively. He shrugged. "Somebody changed me." He met her eyes then, her baby blues boring into his and he didn't care that his soul was hanging out, bleeding into her palm.

Beth shook her head gently. "This Daryl was there all along. I just let you know it was okay for him to exist." She loved the feel of his scruff under her fingers, loved the way it prickled into soft flesh there.

His eyes burned in that moment, that validation that she always gave him even though he didn't feel like he deserved it. He knew he probably didn't deserve any of it, not by a mile, but he didn't care because it was her. Beth. _His_ Beth. She accepted him even when he wasn't the man who was sitting with her here now.

She dropped her hand to her lap and he missed the warmth of her touch immediately. He didn't realize his lips parted in that moment and he had never intended it to happen but he dipped his head and his lips claimed hers. He gave no thought in that moment if this was the right time for him to be doing something like this. His hands found their way to each side of her head as he thread his fingers through her hair. Her lips were warm and soft and molded to his like they were meant for that purpose. Her lips parted under his and he was so fuckin' out of practice so he slowly slid his tongue barely inside her mouth and she sighed as he licked along her lower lip and sucked it between his own lips gently, before slowly pulling away.

Beth had been kissed before. Plenty of times. But no one had ever kissed her with the tenderness and reverence with which Daryl just had. She smiled at him her face hurting with the wideness of it. "Daryl Dixon, I never thought I'd see the day you'd lay one on me like that. I liked it."

He shrugged. "Figure time ain't been on our side so far. Better make the most of it." He was rewarded with a smile from her. She pressed her lips to his this time. This kiss was softer and somehow sweeter, Daryl thought. He should have guessed that she would be good at this too.

"Make the most of it huh?" She grinned. She knew he was referring to their drunken night in that shack.

He nodded. And they did make the most of it. Just kissing and whispering fingers intertwined well into the night. They fell asleep in each other's arms and for the first time in a very long time, neither woke up screaming in the night.

Beth woke up briefly once, thinking about how lucky they were to be alive and to be with each other. Against all odds they had found their way back to one another. One world had ended but theirs had just barely started to spin its way around the sun.

**Had to write this. This prompt was a combined request of bbjorgman and carpediem-365. I hope I did this justice ladies! So let me know how you liked this. Until next time, xoxoxo **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_White. Everything was white. White walls. White bed, white sheets, even her skin was pale, pale white, the cast on her right arm was white. She wiggled it around and other than the stiffness of the cast, her arm felt fine. How long had she been in this half-awake dreamland where things seemed pure but still hummed with a certain evil in the shadows. She felt that sinister undertone the moment her eyes were opened. She was clearly in a hospital. She stood at the window and something was not right. _

_Something had gone terribly wrong in the hospital. Something had gone terribly wrong in their whole world. And it all came back to her then, her mama, the farm going up in flames, fleeing in the night, the prison, and her poor sweet daddy, his head lolled to the side. _

_Oddly enough, she didn't see the red this time, the bright crimson river that poured from his neck wound, spreading over the fabric, seeping slowly and marring the already torn canvas of her heart with anguish and despair. She just saw the white of her father's beard, the whites of his eyes as he shut them for the last time. _

_She tried not to think too much on what might have happened later. If his eyes might have reopened, the whites gone hazy with the blue, opaque mindless pools of hunger for flesh. It was too horrifying to contemplate. _

_Looking out over the city, destroyed by the disease that had eaten away at their society, their normalcy, their civility until there was nothing left but this desolate city, overgrown by wild and overrun by the dead, she felt like she knew exactly how the once burgeoning landscape had felt. She remembered the last moments before it all went black. She remembered white wings stretched across the broad shoulders of a man who was as much a mystery to her as the meaning of life. _

_She remembered most of all, the blinding white that came before the black. It might be why it was so startling the green coming for her. So incredibly stupid that she should associate something as mundane as a lollipop with something so sick, so phallic that it made the bile rise up in her throat. The sickening sweet apple taste coating her tongue in bitter lies. Then his face rose up before her, thick features, the stench of evil apparent in his stare. She felt his hands on her then and her ears were filled with a pounding like she could hear the very beat of her heart as it tried to escape where she was. As her mind tried to escape it. She would just go somewhere else. You had to put it away. _

The pounding persisted and she bolted upright beside Daryl. A dream. It had been a dream. But it was real. She ran her hands down over her face and felt the wet there and hated herself for it. She hated that it could touch her. Hated that he could touch her even in her sleep. He was dead and he still had the power to hurt her.

"What the hell?" Daryl grumbled beside her and rose up to pad over to the door, grabbing his bow by the door just in case. He didn't figure he'd ever feel safe without it, not now; not after all they had been through.

Maggie. Fucking hell, he should have thought to tell Beth to let Maggie and Glenn know where she was. He let his head fall forward for a minute, garnering strength before he opened the door to an irate Greene.

"Is she here?" Maggie strained to peek up over his shoulder.

Daryl nodded. "Mmhm." He hummed his response, bringing his hand up to rub over his face. Maggie was staring at him when he looked back at her. He knew she expected him to answer her unspoken question and that was what was going on between him and her sister. He knew she probably knew already and she was damned nosy but she hadn't had the balls to ask him yet.

"She okay?" Maggie's brow was furrowed with concern but he couldn't bring himself to let her in.

"I'm fine, Maggie." Beth's small but firm voice came from behind him.

He stepped aside, a sigh on his lips as he let Maggie slip in past him. He stood at the door, uncertain what the protocol was for being caught in the middle of the night with someone's baby sister.

"You coming home then?" Maggie wasn't coming right out and saying it but Beth knew what she was asking.

Beth's chin came up. She didn't know why but she didn't really want to be with her sister right now. She wanted to be here with Daryl. It was strange to think that he might know her better than her sister did. She wrapped her arms around her middle, the chill of the night creeping in through the door that Daryl stood there awkwardly holding open while Maggie declared her agenda.

Beth shook her head at her sister's question. "Not right now." She looked to Daryl and she didn't miss the upward twitch of his lips in response.

Maggie nodded slowly looking between the two of them and just leaned in and kissed Beth on the cheek. Beth reached out and hugged Maggie to her. "Love you Mags. I'm glad we're back together. But I just." Beth didn't finish her sentence and honestly right now she didn't feel like should have to.

Maggie nodded again. "I know." She said softly and she turned to leave. As she reached Daryl, he looked at her hesitantly, peeking at her from beneath the fringe of his hair, half wondering if she was going to deck him when she walked past.

He was struck stupid for a moment when she leaned up, pressed her lips to his cheek and whispered. "Take care of her." He must be struck stupid to think that it meant anything. That she wasn't just talking of tonight. That she might be suggesting that whatever this was with Beth, she was giving her blessing. And it was sure as hell stupid the swell he got in his chest at the implications of that implied permission. The permission to lay a claim on her sister and all that went with it. That it might be okay if he put his hands on her. If he let his fingers rest on that hollow where her shoulder dipped down to her neck, which was one of his most favorite things about Beth.

He shut the door and turned to look at Beth and he saw something in her eyes that hadn't been there when they had fallen asleep. He strode over to her and brought his hand up to her face, grasping her chin firmly and tilting her face up towards his where he could peer into those baby blues.

"What's wrong?" he demanded, his voice gruff from sleep. Beth didn't want to meet his eyes. She didn't want to tell him that she wasn't handling things all too well. Now that she didn't have to think about the peril that they were all in. Now that she didn't have Pixie or the others to worry about getting to safety, her mind was now free to process it all. She wasn't supposed to look back and she didn't want to but evidently her brain had different ideas about what that really meant, like she was forced to watch a movie she never had a desire to see.

The images played over and over in her head and she couldn't seem to shake them. She just didn't know how. She finally met his eyes and she got lost in the stormy blue. "I hate him."

Daryl's eyes were clouded with confusion for a moment until the full weight of her words hit him. The guy at the hospital. He couldn't quite explain the boiling rage that ripped through him in that moment, threatening to consume him with a fire of hatred so heated it might burn a path straight to his heart. The pain in her eyes was piercing and like a dagger to his gut. He felt gutted and he wanted to gut the guy that put that look in her eyes. His Beth had never looked like that before. His? Yes, he supposed that was how he had come to think of her. As his.

At the prison, she had been Hershel's and Maggie's. She had been Judith's. If he really thought about it, she had been Rick's too. Every part of them had a part of her whether it was her gentle ways with Ass Kicker, her reverence when she looked at her father, the teasing between her and Maggie. But later, when they were on their own for all those weeks, she had just been his. _His Beth._

He took her small hand, so fragile her bones like that of a bird's, into his large ruddy palm and led her back to the sofa, making sure she was comfortable before sitting back down beside her. She was sitting cross-legged facing him, her hands playing with the imaginary lint on the couch.

"What did he do to you Beth? I gotta know." Daryl reached over and his heart jumped at the slight flinch of her hand just before he took it in his own again and threaded their fingers together. That bastard had put his hands on her. If he….he didn't let himself think it. She had said that she didn't let it get that far but maybe he had misunderstood. He felt a churning in his gut that sparked the rage that had him wanting to go hit something. He thought about what Beth had told him once. That he could "beat up walkers" if he wanted. That was something he would welcome right now. He never thought he'd wish for the ample supply of dead they had before they'd crossed into the walls of the safe zone.

Beth looked at him, her eyes swimming with tears, blocking her vision and she furiously wiped them away. She hated that she was crying.

_I don't cry anymore Daryl. _

What a damn lie that had been, she thought.

"Did he- did he rape you?" He hated saying the words. Hated that something like that could ever touch her. That anyone had tried to touch her. If he could, he'd go back to that damn hospital and find his corpse and beat the hell out of him just for shits and giggles.

She shook her head. "No. He didn't. But he raped a lot of other women there." She didn't mention Jamie then. What she had told her happened one night when Officers Reynolds and his friend had come to her hospital room. Best as Beth could tell was that Jamie had been in the locked ward of the hospital like Beth had been when she had first woken up. It had been a mental ward before the turn; that was the only explanation for hospital room doors that locked and the heavy fire door that separated it from the rest of the facility.

"But he put his hands on you." Daryl stated it as he held her hand that she had begun to squeeze every once in a while.

Beth couldn't meet his eyes as she nodded her head ever so slightly. If she didn't meet his eyes, he wouldn't have to see the things she had seen. He wouldn't be able to see how much she had changed and how much she was not the same girl she was before. She wasn't even sure _who_ she was anymore.

"None of this should matter." She looked at him, a fiery rage pulling at her core. "All that should matter is where we are now." She waited a moment, her voice thick with the tears that threatened to ruin all this for her, for them. "But it _does_ matter. It matters." It must or she wouldn't be feeling the emptiness she felt right now.

Daryl nodded even as his heart felt like it was rent in two seeing how broken she seemed. "It matters if it's something you dreamed about."

Her eyes snapped to his as if surprised to realize that he knew she had been dreaming before Maggie came to the door. "'Ya ain't the only one with nightmares." His fingers found their way to the soft tumble of blonde curls at her shoulder. He moved her hair back from her face, tilting his head slightly as he looked at her. "Trick is to not let 'em creep into your daydreams."

Beth's heart skipped three beats and she closed her eyes against his touch, so rough and so perfect at the same time. She nodded. His words were like a balm to her pain-scorched heart. She wanted to tell him all about it. She wanted to tell him all the ways it had fucked her up and the ways that it hadn't but for now she just lived in the moment. That Daryl Dixon was so intuitive did not surprise her. The fact that he felt comfortable enough with her to express it; well that blew her away. "That makes sense. My daydreams are pretty good these days. Can't have anything ruining them." She looked up at him and took in his smirk.

"Daydreams, huh?" He couldn't keep from smiling right now if he tried. So she thought about him. It was only fair really considering how much time he spent with his head in the clouds about her.

She nodded the stupid grin still plastered on her face. "Yep. They're all about this guy I met. He's real rough around the edges but you get to know him and you find out he's a real softie."

"Sounds like an asshole to me." He quipped.

She shook her head. "Nope. He used to come across that way. You just gotta get to know him to love him." She realized what she said then and blushed furiously.

Daryl's heard thudded in his chest at her words. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know if it was right but he leaned forward and met her lips with his, tentatively, clumsily. Because so help him he wasn't ready for her to say those three words to him any more than he was ready to say them to her. They might be true but he just wasn't ready yet. It might be his undoing. They were safe behind the walls now but that could change at any moment. So yeah, he made a dumbass move and kissed her, hoping like hell she'd slap him because it was what he deserved anyway.

She put her palms flat against his chest at first gripping the shirt he had finally donned again sometime before they went to sleep earlier, then pulling him to her more firmly, kissing him with her whole soul.

"I don't ever want to stop kissing you." His eyes went wide as he spoke. He couldn't quite believe he had let those words escape, any more than Beth could have prevented her slip of tongue.

"Then don't." She whispered it just before putting her lips back on his and leaning into him. Kissing Daryl was the best thing in life as far as she was concerned. He didn't want to stop kissing her? Well the feeling was mutual. He could kiss her right into forever.

**Okay guys here is the second installment of Eyes of the Heart. Hope you liked it. I don't think I have ever written anything like this to this extent so I am a little uncertain but it's something I really wanted to do. Until next time, guys xoxoxoxoxo **


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"You remember where ya were when you crossed out of Georgia?" Beth ran her thumb along Daryl's hand as they walked towards the park. This had become their nightly routine, going to the park, holding hands, Daryl pushing her on the swings and stealing kisses from one another. It was a good life, in Beth's book. She remembered writing it all down once and those words coming back to haunt her, but being here with Daryl now she thought maybe they could be true again.

"_We can live here. We can live here for the rest of our lives."_

Beth settled herself into the swing and waited while Daryl got behind it and started to push.

"Yeah, I remember." Daryl's voice was gruff and his hands were firm on her back, the easy cadence of the swing matched his voice. "I was walkin' with Rick. We had just cleared out a place a half a day prior, we had lost Sasha." He stopped, remembering the blood-bath at that department store where they had gained the supplies they sought but lost another family member.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know her well but she seemed like good people." Beth said softly.

"She was. Anyway, we got to the sign and I stopped because I remembered ya know?" He pushed her a bit higher on the swing, letting her soar up in the air a bit higher with each thrust and then the next push he almost tried to stop the swing, remembering the fresh twist of the knife in his chest when he'd seen that sign. 'You are now Leaving Georgia, come back and see us soon.'

"We were crossing into South Carolina and it just seemed wrong that you weren't there too, making that journey with me. 's stupid I guess. Wasn't like we was goin' on vacation or somethin'." He said, the swing slowing to a stop and Beth extracted herself from the swing and came to face him.

Beth put both hands on his chest, let her fingers splay out over the hard planes, the cool of his vest making her even more aware of his proximity to her, to this moment. "I wish I'd been there with ya too." She whispered, looking up into his face.

Daryl looked down at her. "What about you?" He tilted his head to the side, taking in how her hair shone in the dusk out here, the fading light of the day slipping over the horizon. He put one hand on her shoulder, threading his fingers lightly through her hair as she spoke.

"I had stopped in a convenient store, was sensing that we were getting into different territory and wanted to update my map. Figured out early that pinpointing different landmarks on maps was easier if you had something to go on. Lots of rest areas and convenient stores have 'you are here' pinned to a map and it's easy to figure things out from there." She looked up at Daryl. She hadn't meant to tell him all that but his proximity was making her nervous and she got to talking when she was.

Daryl couldn't help his chest puffing out at that. "That's my girl." He said, flushing a bit at his own words and then jutted his chin out. She didn't contradict what he said and it made his heart flutter that she didn't. His girl. Yeah, he guessed she was that. And if that's what all this hand-holding and kissing was about, then that was fine by him too.

Beth looked into his eyes, those stormy blues nearly her undoing but she continued her story. "I saw a strange little sign. It said, Welcome to South Carolina, now Go Home. I remember thinking it was rude." Beth suddenly realized he was laughing.

"What's so funny?" Her eyes narrowed at him but he didn't appear to be laughing at her per se.

"I saw a sign like that once. Me and Michonne were out on a run. Back when everybody was sick. It said the same thing 'cept it was for Georgia." Daryl smiled at her.

"What are the chances?" Beth said, laughing with him, her fingers gripping the leather of his vest.

Daryl looked down at her. "Yeah what are the chances." His expression faded into one of sorrow. "Beth, that time apart almost killed me. I thought you…." He didn't even think he could say the words right now. That after all she had taught him he had thought the worst.

"Daryl it's okay. You had no reason to think otherwise. The fire." Beth let her voice trail off. It was one of many things they hadn't talked about yet. How he had come to think that she was gone forever. How he had thought life was over. That is until he had seen her back inside these very gates.

"I'm just glad you're here now." Daryl shuddered involuntarily and Beth gripped his vest tighter as he pulled her face towards his, his lips finding hers like an anchor.

Beth needed something to anchor her to this spot. Sometimes she felt the slip-slide of her heart on the inside and it felt like she just might melt away under all the heat that burned inside of the two of them for one another.

A breathless sigh escaped her lips as his tongue flitted out and traced the seam along her lips, prompting her to open her mouth and she complied, his tongue invading hers, licking inside her mouth, tasting her and the kiss still left her with wanting as he finally pulled his lips away, kissing his way down her jaw. She turned her head to the side and his lips immediately found purchase on the smooth pale white column of her throat. He brought his lips back to hers hungrily, his hands threading through her hair on each side to cradle her head at the back and Daryl angled his mouth to fit hers more perfectly, groaning at how perfect her lips were against his.

He felt her hands come up to wind around his neck and her fingers thread through the hair at the nape of his neck and as he flicked his tongue back into her mouth again he heard her groan even as he felt it inside his own mouth and it released some kind of deep-seated need in him that he didn't even know he possessed. He pulled his hands from the back of her head and moved them down her body, letting them come to rest just under her breasts, his thumbs just barely brushing against her.

Beth leaned her body into Daryl's and she couldn't stop the moan that slipped from her lips as he brought his hands to her waist and grazed his thumbs on the underneath side of her breasts. She arched her body into him and instinctively brought one hand to his hip, pinning herself to him even as she flicked her hips forward, involuntarily grinding the lower half of her body into his as he deepened their kiss again.

She should have guessed what would happen next. Their kisses had never grown that urgent. Their hands had never strayed and their mouths had never moaned like they just had. When Beth ground herself against Daryl, he jumped and she jumped in response and just like that, the spell was broken.

They were left breathless, staring at one another, wondering how they got there in the first place. Beth wondered if they would ever get there again. "I'm sorry." She whispered. She felt like it might be her fault somehow.

"Stop." He said, giving her one of his famous looks that had her rethinking her entire existence because that's the way it was now with her and Daryl. "Don't apologize. I just ain't-." He looked at her, feeling like an idiot and just knowing that she probably had more experience than he did. She was always so sure of herself. And he was- well, he was Daryl.

"I ain't done any of this before." He admitted, looking at her.

Beth studied him as he looked at her, his hair way too long and peeking at her from beneath his bangs as he spoke. "The kissin'? Or the….stuff that comes after the kissin?" Beth flushed. She couldn't help it. She may have grown up on a farm and her sister may be jaded to stuff like this but Beth would forever blush red when it came to how things in the body worked.

He looked at her and squinted. "Truth?"

She nodded. "Always." She smiled faintly.

"All of it." He took a deep breath. "I mean I done stuff I'm sure. But I don't remember none of it. Life with Merle was just one party after another. Never did nothin' with anybody when I _wasn't_ wasted out of my mind. So I remember the mornins after. Just none of the other stuff." He looked at her uncertainly, hoping she could guess what he was saying.

"So you've done things but you don't remember them?" Beth reached down and took his hands into each of hers, threading their fingers together.

Daryl nodded at her. "Fucked up right?"

Beth shook her head slowly. "No, it's not. It makes sense." She looked at him sadly. "It's kinda the same with me. I made out with Jimmy and Zach. But that's as far as it went. But the hospital? I don't know Daryl. I keep having these dreams." She looked away, feeling Daryl's grip on her fingers tighten slightly at the implication of her words. She squeezed right back and looked at him again, her eyes meeting his and daring him to look away. He didn't.

"I need you to hear me. What they did or didn't do doesn't matter now." Daryl's grip got tighter and she squeezed as hard as she could until he backed off but his breathing was still rapid.

Daryl forced the air into his lungs and back out, over and over again concentrating on the grip of Beth's fingers around his own. He knew she was telling him something happened to her in there. He knew she was trying to tell him it didn't matter but it did. It mattered to him. It mattered that someone had put their hands on her.

Beth thought on what they had done or had tried to do to her at that hospital. The dreams made it hard to differentiate reality. So much had been taken from all of them already. It just didn't seem right that someone could try to take that too, something that she had been keeping safe for such a long time. At some point, she knew something had broken inside her wondering about all the evil the world contained now. Maybe some of it was there before and it was just easier now to see them. So much good had been removed from the world that the bad stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb.

In that place, where nearly all her power and control had been stripped from her, the evil had pulsed beneath the surface. Beth had often felt if you stepped the wrong way the façade would crack and all the ugly would come spilling out threatening to stain her feet and eats its way towards her heart.

"I put it away Daryl." She told him and he looked at her. His grip relaxed on her fingers and his breathing evened out.

"_You have to put it away." _She had told him that once. And now here they were and here was Beth Greene, taking her own advice. It was just like her to so something like that. Turn the whole world around and make it make sense again. Seemed like she'd been doing that for him for as long as he could remember.

"I don't like to think of you being hurt." Daryl said, his voice coming out barely more than a whisper. He brought his hands up to her shoulders, his fingers caressing the bare expanse of skin that was exposed by her sweater slipping down. He reluctantly dragged her sweater up back up where it belonged and smiled softly at her, remembering the first hug they had ever shared. He could tell by looking at her that she remembered it too. He knew they were done talking about what happened to her for now. She would reveal it to him a small piece at a time he suspected. Much like he revealed his demons to her.

"Daddy always said when you care about people, hurt kind of is part of the package." Beth said.

Daryl nodded. "Yeah I guess that must be true then." He didn't know exactly how to put it to words how he felt about her but now was a good time to try. "I care about you Beth." It was more than he'd ever told a living soul.

Beth beamed one of those smiles at him when he said that and it nearly knocked him over where he stood. He hadn't seen one of those smiles on her since before he'd lost her. His heart clenched at the thought of it. But he'd put that smile on her face. His words had. And he hadn't even said all that much. He smiled back at her.

"You care about me huh?" Beth teased, her smile still broad.

"Well maybe _more than_ care about ya." Daryl flushed and his words faltered at the end but he'd gotten out that much. It was enough.

Beth didn't think it was possible for her to smile this much again but as Daryl slipped out that confession her smile broadened. "More than huh?" She was starting to sound like a parrot but she didn't care. Daryl Dixon had just declared his feelings for her.

"Don't push your luck Greene." He grinned as he brought his lips to hers.

As he broke the kiss, Beth could swear she heard him sigh. He pulled her into his arms and held her tight, the swing swaying, forgotten in the background. She wound her arms around his waist, holding on, never wanting to let go. It was a good life, Beth thought. A _good_ life.

**Hope you liked this next installment of Eyes of the Heart. I am kind of feeling this one out as I go. It is kind of their intimate journey. It will be basically just the two of them for the most part except where other characters are needed. So we shall see. Let me know either way. **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Beth looked around at all the familiar faces, her brain automatically skipping over the ones that weren't there, the ones everyone missed but was too afraid to break this tenable hold on happiness to bring it up. They needed to heal from their multiple losses; they just weren't ready. Beth was starting to understand that might have something to do with why Maggie hadn't ever looked for her; why she had just seemingly given her up for dead. It had hurt like hell ever since she had realized that but now she was starting to see that Maggie maybe didn't have a choice. Maybe it had hurt too bad to think she would have to move on without her sister.

She looked across the room to the woman in question who smiled her way, a little nervously. She sensed that there was a rift between them too, but it had become this elephant in the room that no one wanted to admit existed. For now though, Beth was content to let it slide. She looked at the rest of her extended family, having gathered for a meal together in Rick and Michonne's house they shared with Abraham, Rosita and Tara along with Carl and Judith, of course.

Rick stepped up and cleared his throat. "I'm glad everyone could make it. It's been a long time since all of us were in one place together for more than a minute." He paused as everyone laughed a bit. "I think it goes without sayin' that we're all happy to be together again. We lost a lot of people we love. People we're always gonna miss, but we got a chance at maybe makin' a new start. I still don't know if we can trust this place but right now it's all we got. We got four walls and a roof and three squares a day. Ain't a bad take away in my book." He looked to Daryl who nodded in his direction.

"We're lucky. We get to start over." Daryl stepped beside Beth, his arm brushing against hers.

Beth could swear that she felt her arm literally tingle when Daryl sidled up to her, his skin connecting with hers in warmth. She took in a breath while waiting for her pulse to return to normal. She was having a harder and harder time of that lately and she felt the corners of her mouth twitch up before glancing about. They hadn't really told anyone about their relationship yet though she pretty much guessed most of them had figured it out by now. Which was a good thing since Beth hadn't really figured it out herself. Neither had Daryl but they were working at it. That's what counted.

"Everyone help yourselves. Don't forget to thank your chefs. These ladies have been workin' all day to make sure we had a feast tonight." Rick nodded to Beth, Tara and Rosita.

Beth spoke up. "And Daryl for the squirrel. We couldn'ta made the stew without it."

Everyone gave a hearty agreement for Beth's words and then everyone disbanded for a bit getting their plates fixed with the hearty stew thick with squirrel, crushed tomatoes, canned carrots and potatoes. Beth had found some spices in the garden behind the house and it had added quite a bit of flavor. She had also been able to scare up some cornmeal and managed to make corncakes to go with the stew.

Beth finished moving through the line and moved across the living room to the far wall. It was devoid of any furniture and Beth eased herself to the floor, settling her plate on her lap. Michonne had Judith, feeding her bits of corn cake, which the little girl was examining carefully, an interesting expression on her face. Beth laughed.

Michonne looked to her, smiling broadly. "She's not sure she likes it."

Rick sat down on the other side of Michonne, laughing. "Her mama made those corn cakes, remember when she we was out on the road before the prison."

Beth laughed. "Maybe she remembers how awful they were."

Rick smiled faintly at the memory. Lori would have loved them all gathering here like this. She thrived on events like it. "She would have loved all this."

Daryl watched the exchange. He hadn't really known Lori all that well and he hated that she had gone out the way she had. It was odd remembering the ones that weren't there with them.

As he carried his plate into the living room he noted where Beth was sitting and wondered if it was okay if he went and sat by her or if the others would say something about it. He thought about the alternative and that was sitting next to Abraham on the sofa. Beth would be all alone across the room and he decided that he had spent far too long away from her. He headed to where she was sitting and she looked up at him and beamed him one of her 1000 watt smiles. It was then that he knew he had made the right decision because he found himself smiling back at her like the fool he was. He had to be a fool to be behaving the way he was around her. It was almost like they were back at the funeral home again when it was just the two of them.

They had gotten somewhat comfortable around each other lately. They were still just kissing and holding hands, it hadn't gotten any further than that; well not really, Daryl amended in his mind. There was the time a few nights ago when they had gotten to kissing and their hands had started to wander.

His hands had gone to her waist and he'd looped his thumbs inside her belt loops and pulled her roughly against him. They'd both been breathless by then, Beth moaning into his mouth and her fingers went to his belt and then they both froze and neither moved a muscle, their lips stilled against the other. He had relaxed his grip on her hips and she had moved her hands back up his chest, their unspoken safety zone and resumed kissing, eventually breaking away to breathe.

Daryl thought about kissing Beth all the time. He never wanted to stop kissing her, he had told her that. She had told him to keep on that one time but he hadn't had the nerve to kiss her for more than a few minutes, mostly because of all the flip flops his heart would do and because of the other more obvious physical reaction which scared the hell out of him if he was going to tell the truth. Hell, he felt guilty sitting her beside her thinking about how much he ached when he kissed her. Never mind what he thought her old man might think of him putting his dirty redneck hands on his baby girl.

He finished his stew and sat back, his plate empty and his stomach full for the third time that day. That was probably one of the hardest things to get used to, the fact that he didn't have the daily hunger pains anymore. He did if he got busy and forgot to eat but it was not because they didn't know where their next meal was coming from. Living inside the walls might make him uneasy at times but one thing was for sure, they didn't have to go hungry.

Beth noted that everyone had gotten quiet and were talking amongst themselves. She looked at Daryl and met his eyes. He had been looking at her again. She drew her legs up and crossed them at the ankles, turning towards him slightly.

He smiled at her. "The stew was good. Bout the best thing I've eaten in a while."

She nudged his arm with her shoulder. "That's what you said last night when I made you that spaghetti."

Daryl nudged her back and smirked. "I meant it then too." He did. The woman had a way in the kitchen that was for sure. She had a knack for cooking like he'd never seen and at this rate with three squares a day and them not on the run constantly, he'd be bigger than a house by winter. "I'm gonna get fat."

Beth giggled.

"It ain't funny. You still gonna wanna be seen with me then." He grinned at her. He loved seeing her smile again but making her laugh? It was like a drug to him. He strove for it, he realized. He had missed it. Missed the way she would laugh when she was telling him something or even him at times. She was the only person who laughed at him that he didn't find himself flying off the handle. Somehow the way Beth Greene viewed his flaws as funny made his thoughts lighter and he could see the humor in it too.

Beth smiled at him softly and put her hand on his arm, her skin warmer than he could have imagined as cold as it was in the room. They all tried to conserve what little bit of firewood they had for the nights when they had to sleep. "You're not gonna get rid of me that easy."

He glanced over then at Michonne who was sending him knowing glances. She grinned at him and he just smirked and shook his head. He didn't need that woman trying to dissect what was going on between him and Beth. She seemed to sense that.

He looked at Beth. He wanted her to sing again. She hadn't in such a long time. He had been waiting for the right time but it never seemed to come. It made him want to kick himself for ever mocking her for her singing. She had the voice of an angel and he wondered why he didn't hear her humming all the time like he used to. "Why don't you sing somethin'?"

She looked around at the room. Everyone had gotten quiet but most had heard Daryl's question and they all awaited her response.

She laughed nervously and looked at Daryl. "No one wants to hear." She remembered saying those words another time. Her insecure words then might have rung true then but now it was more that Beth wasn't sure she wanted to hear herself sing. She hadn't in so long. Not since she left the hospital. She smiled faintly at Daryl but wasn't prepared at all for his words.

"I do. I want to hear." He whispered it and Beth was pretty sure the only people that heard him was Rick and Michonne. Rick looked at Daryl in surprise and he looked back to Beth who considered his words and was smiling at him.

Beth nodded. For Daryl, she would do it. He didn't ask for things easily and there was no way she was going to deny him this, no matter if she felt like she was ready to unveil that part of herself again. She thought for a moment of what she might sing and she briefly considered singing "We'll Be Good" a wave of nostalgia washing over her, but that song now just seemed like it was just for her and Daryl, a moment shared between the two of them.

She thought of how she had felt all that time on her own and how she felt now about looking at Daryl and wondered if he could possibly know how much he meant to her. In her way of thinking, he had saved her life. Had saved her so much from staying who she was, a little girl from a farm, to a woman who had survived.

Every single word Daryl had ever uttered to her had been tattooed on her skin, imprinted there for eternity or until her bones were turned to dust, whichever came first. She began to sing softly at first, her voice gaining strength as she closed her eyes, feeling the music with her whole heart.

_Blue__  
><em>_Songs are like tattoos__  
><em>_You know I've been to sea before__  
><em>_Crown and anchor me__  
><em>_Or let me sail away__  
><em>_Hey Blue__  
><em>_And there is a song for you__  
><em>_Ink on a pin__  
><em>_Underneath the skin__  
><em>_An empty space to fill in__  
><em>_Well there're so many sinking__  
><em>_Now you've got to keep thinking__  
><em>_You can make it thru these waves__  
><em>_Acid, booze, and ass__  
><em>_Needles, guns, and grass__  
><em>_Lots of laughs__  
><em>_Lots of laughs__  
><em>_Everybody's saying that hell's the hippest way to go well__  
><em>_I don't think so, but I'm__  
><em>_Gonna take a look around it though Blue__  
><em>_I love you__Blue__  
><em>_Here is a shell for you__  
><em>_Inside you'll hear a sigh__  
><em>_A foggy lullaby__  
><em>_There is your song from me_

As Beth finished the song she looked at Daryl and smiled softly as her voice faded out into the room. There was silence at first and then gradual reverent applause and murmurs of appreciation.

"Beth that was beautiful." Maggie didn't flinch at her choice of song. Daddy would have been appalled she knew at the lyrics in that song but Beth liked to think he had loosened up a little in death and maybe even his spirit could appreciate the crooning of Joni Mitchell through her own voice.

Daryl couldn't stop staring at her. She was so beautiful singing, her voice like that of some end of the world angel coming to claim him and he guessed in a way she had. She had claimed every part of him. He hated to use that word after Joe and his guys had distorted the word to a new world order, but it was the only thing that fit the way she had crawled under his skin and wedged her way into every corner of his thoughts. He guessed the thing that stunned him the most about it was that he didn't mind it; the way she was always at the forefront of his mind. It was getting harder and harder to imagine a time where Beth Greene wasn't the first thing he thought about when he woke up and the last face on his mind when he closed his eyes at night.

Beth was still looking at Daryl and he was studying her as if in some kind of trance. She whispered so as not to startle him too much. "I better get going home. They expect me at the school tomorrow morning." She was to start teaching a class of first graders the next day at the school four blocks away.

Daryl's eyes snapped to her figure getting up to clean their plates. "I'll walk you." He gingerly got up from the floor. He wasn't as young as he used to be, that was for sure and all the inactivity lately had made his old bones ache and the cold didn't help either.

They told everyone goodnight in a round of hugs. Beth paused in front of Maggie pulling her to her in a sudden hug. Maggie stiffened at first and then seemed to fall against Beth. They pulled away with tears in both their eyes. Neither said a word but their hug said enough. For now.

Daryl walked beside Beth down the sidewalk back to her house. Maggie and Glenn were staying to help clean up. He wondered if she would stay tonight as she had so often lately. It had gotten so both of them were more comfortable with her staying at his place. He had the extra room across the hall from his but he always gave her his bed and he stayed there. It had gotten so if Maggie couldn't find Beth at night she automatically knew that she was at Daryl's. She always checked and Daryl always said the same thing. "Yeah, I got her." He didn't know why he said it that way but he guessed it was his way of saying that he was taking care of her. He was watching over her. Just like when they were alone all those weeks, he had her back. Just like she had his. The thing was, he figured they still did. A weight settled over his chest but it wasn't a different kind of feeling. He kept coming back to the same thing. He loved her. He knew it like he knew there were walkers outside the walls of the city.

Just like he'd let her work her way under his skin, he had let his love for her work its way into his heart and he didn't know how to handle himself sometimes. He was afraid sometimes it might come spilling out of him whether he was ready for it or not.

As they got half way down the block, he moved his hand towards where hers was swinging at her side. He slid his palm against hers, her skin so soft against his callused hide and he linked their fingers together. He loved holding her hand; hers so delicate and his so much larger. He loved the way her fingers intertwined with his. He loved most of all how she did it without thinking about it. She did it often and most of all, she liked holding his hand.

She looked over and smiled at him. "I like holdin' hands with you." She had told him before.

He smiled back at her squeezing her fingers slightly. "I know." Because what else could he say to that. She knew he liked holding hers. Sometimes he wondered at his life and how much it had changed since the turn and then he thought that was nothing compared to how much it had changed since he had fallen for Beth.

"You gonna stay here tonight or?" He held his breath waiting on her answer as they approached his house.

She looked at him. "You want me to stay?"

"I always want ya to stay Beth. I sleep better." He turned to face her as they reached his door. He looked at her a little uncertainly at his admission. He figured she knew anyway that he didn't sleep when she wasn't under the same roof as him.

"I'll just go over and change in the morning before school." Beth remarked.

"Ya know you could-" Daryl stopped himself, his face flushing as he shifted his weight back and forth from one foot to the other.

Beth walked one step closer to him her face turned up to his. "No, finish what you were gonna say." She prodded gently. She smiled at him, knowing at once what he was going to ask her and she didn't know why but suddenly she was so giddy about it.

He shrugged. "Was thinkin' maybe it'd be easier if you just stayed here all the time." He looked down at her, his eyes meeting her gaze, the blues of her eyes almost sparking at him with her brilliant smile.

"Yeah?" She couldn't wipe the smile from her face if she tried right now.

"Yeah. You know, Maggie and Glenn might like havin' a house to themselves anyway. You know how those two can be." Daryl chortled at some distant memory.

She grinned at him. "Yeah, for Glenn and Maggie. It doesn't have anythin' to do with us."

He brought his hands up to either side of her face and looked into her eyes, fully meeting her gaze. "Seems like every decision I make has to do with us. Always will. Okay?"

Beth's eyes met his determined gaze and she brought her hands to his waist gripping tightly. She nodded. "Okay." She whispered as she closed her eyes, his lips meeting hers, softly at first and a whimper slipped past her lips as he thread his fingers through her hair to hold the back of her head, his tongue plundering her mouth and she met his kisses with equal fervor. As they began to get breathless they pulled away, Daryl's forehead pressed against hers.

"We're home. Ready to go in?" He said gruffly.

She pulled back to smile up at him. She nodded and they walked across the threshold. "Home." She echoed his words. She was home indeed. As she dressed for bed after an achingly long kiss goodnight to Daryl, she thought about what that meant. She thought about how they had thought they had found a home before, the prison and later, even the funeral home. She was still uneasy here but with Daryl across the hall, it made everything seem infinitely safer. She felt like she could nestle in and sleep and not worry about the world outside.

Across the hall, through the two walls that separated them, Daryl listened for the creak of the bed as she settled. He knew the moment she was settling down to go to sleep because the creak of her restlessness ceased. She was quiet and his own muscles began to unknot.

She had actually agreed to live with him. He knew others would think it was because of a different reason, but he didn't care. They could think what they wanted. It wasn't like that with him and Beth. At least not yet anyway. He didn't know when they'd be ready for that. He didn't know when _he_ would. He suspected though, like with everything else in their relationship it would creep up the both of them when they weren't expecting it.

Loving Beth was like that. Every moment was a surprise. In a world where life held few surprises anymore for Daryl Dixon, that was something. Hell, it was everything when he thought about. That's what it all came down to. Loving Beth seemed on the one hand like it was something that he never should have expected. Then at the same time, it seemed like this had been his destiny all along. Somehow, fate had lined it up and he'd never be able to figure it out, how he just seemed to have drifted through his whole life until the turn. After that, the events that happened seemed meant to bring him to this one moment in time. His purpose as far as he could tell. Loving Beth and all that went with it.

**Okay guys, I hope you like this latest installment of this story. They are getting down to where they are going to start really figuring things out. There were hints at it this chapter. Now that they are going to be officially under the same roof it will be even more interesting. Don't worry, they won't be getting there just yet. They have lots of exploring to do and lots of soul searching. Remember that neither of them really knows what they are doing. ;) Let me know if you want to see more of this story. Until next time, lovelies, xoxoxoxoxo **

"Blue" is sung and written by Joni Mitchell (1971)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Beth walked out of her classroom and slung her bag over her shoulder, heavy with books and several folders of worksheets Beth was going to go over to devise lesson plans for her small class of kindergarten through 3rd graders. They had broken the classes down to three teachers. One for Beth's class and the other two split the other grades up to age 15. School attendance at the moment was voluntary but most people in the community sent their children. Everyone craved the normalcy of the old world and sending your child off to school for the day? Well it didn't get any more normal than that, Beth thought. One of the perks of her job was that she could borrow books from the library any time she wanted. Currently there was a copy of The Princess Bride in her bag and she couldn't wait until later that evening after supper when she and Daryl were curled up on the sofa so she could read until the candlelight grew too dim. She would be glad when the days lengthened with approaching spring. She would be able to read much longer in the evenings.

Beth looked through the double doors of the school and saw him leaning against the railing, his crossbow sitting on the sidewalk by his feet. She smiled as she opened the door and approached him. She watched his face for a change in his expression and her heart flipped inside her chest at the small smile he gave her.

"Hey." Her grin was wide as she came right up in front of him, looking up into his face.

Daryl hadn't been waiting long. He had been working shoring up the walls on the north side of the city but as the sun started to get lower in the sky he had been unable to tear his thoughts from Beth and if she would be okay walking home on her own. He knew they were supposed to be safe now but she hadn't been back with them, with _him_ long enough for him to feel comfortable leaving her on her own. He knew it was irrational but he didn't care. So he'd made his way to the school and waited outside. He had received more than one strange glance from kids and parents alike as they slowly trickled out of the school at the end of the day.

"Hey yourself. You ready to go home?" He liked saying that to her, he realized. Home. It was something he had come to associated with Beth. After being separated for so long and now that they were reunited, the word had taken on a whole new meaning for him. He wondered if it did for her too.

She beamed that bright smile at him, swung her bag back over her shoulder and he was lost in that moment. He wanted to kiss her right then. Just bend her over his arm and dip her back and kiss her like he'd seen on some of the movies his mama used to watch back in the day. But he still sometimes had trouble working up the nerve to touch her in private, let alone when any passerby on the street could see them. No, he'd have to wait until they got home.

They set off down the block, making their way to their house. They had moved Beth's stuff in a few days ago and no one had said anything but they didn't have to. It was all in their curious glances and wordless stares. Maggie had opened her mouth on more than one occasion, presumably to question Beth about it but she always stopped, mostly because Glenn was there to nudge her gently or shoot her a look.

Beth knew Maggie didn't care about Beth shacking up with someone, least of all Daryl. Besides it wasn't like that with them anyway. At least, not yet. She knew it was about the rift between them. It was as if a trench had been dug and they had been each left on the other side, staring at the other and all that was between them, unsure of how to bridge the gap.

Her bag started to slip off her shoulder so she stopped and hoisted it back up, pulling at the strap at the top so it wouldn't put too much pressure on her shoulders.

"Need me to carry it?" Daryl couldn't help but notice she was struggling with the bag and he could kick himself for not offering sooner.

She looked over at him toting his crossbow on his back and imagined him suddenly toting her bright yellow shoulder bag with aqua stitching and she burst into a fit of giggles.

Daryl flushed at her laughter but couldn't help the upturn of his lips while watching her. Sometimes she was so damn pretty it struck him as odd that he was here flirting with Beth Greene and walking her home. _Their_ home. "Somethin' funny?"

Beth squelched her giggles hoping she hadn't hurt his feelings. She reached out her free hand to his arm at his side. "Just was imaginin' you carrying my girly bag on your shoulders along with your crossbow." She grinned.

He snorted. "Yeah. Well, it don't matter. I can still carry it if ya want." He thought about what Merle might say him carrying a girl's purse, Beth Greene's purse nonetheless. He shook his head to clear the thoughts. His brother crept into his mind at the oddest times.

Beth shook her head. "I'm okay. Besides we're almost there." She was right. They had reached their block and as they walked in the house, Beth thought of her life now and how different it was from before. Just a few months ago she had been at the hospital plotting a way out thinking there was no way she could find her family again and now here she was with the man she had thought of most while they were all apart, the only man she cared anything about. Sometimes Beth thought if it was just the two of them now, like they were back at the funeral home, and no one else ever, she'd bed happy.

* * *

><p>Daryl looked at her all laid back on the sofa, her back resting against the sofa arm, her knees drawn up to her chest as she read, her hair fanned about her shoulders, the strands brushed to a fine sheen, the honeyed strands now picking up the glow from the candlelight.<p>

He worked on his bolts, sharpening them to a fine point. He still went hunting sometimes but for the most part, his bow went largely unused, a stark contrast to his life just a few short days ago. They had fought their way to the safe zone and every mile had been hard won.

Every once in a while, Beth would look up and catch him staring at her and she'd smile, the corners of her mouth turning up and her eyes flaring at him like he'd done something good.

"The Princess Bride. Is it good?" Daryl had never been much of a reader but she looked like she was enjoying the book.

Beth looked up from her book in surprise and pulled it to her chest, the pages crinkling against her shirt. She was wearing one of Daryl's flannels and a pair of yoga pants and also a pair of his socks. She smiled to herself then focused her attention on his question.

"Is it good?" She grinned. "It's so good. It's just the most beautiful story about a princess and her farm boy and how much he loves her and it's everything you would want from a fairy tale. There are rodents of unusual size and fire swamps and princes and there's death but then he comes back to life and oh you just have to read it." Her face burned bright red as she realized she had been babbling on and on and he was just watching her and his eyes burned into her.

Beth stretched her legs out, very aware of her toes pressed against Daryl's thigh, but she never took her eyes off his as he reached down and pulled her feet into his lap, her heels settling right between his thighs. He gently stroked her ankles and Beth's breath caught in her throat and she found herself a little bit warmer than she was a few minutes ago. All because of his fingers ghosting across her ankle. Every once in a while his fingers would make contact with bare skin and each time she felt like she might crawl out of her own skin with anticipation.

Beth cleared her throat. "Why don't I read it to you? Used to be Friday nights like this, couples would sit and watch a movie or television." The word slipped past her lips without her permission. She guessed they were a couple. They hadn't defined what they were to one another yet. She searched Daryl's eyes for any hint of annoyance at her referring to them as a couple but she found that he was giving her that intense stare again, the very one he'd given her that night when she'd been taken away from him, away from a life like this. Everything happens for a reason, she reminded herself.

Daryl found himself nodding at her suggestion. The thoughts of her voice speaking to him, telling him some tall tale from between the pages she liked to hide her pretty nose in, set his heart to a regular rhythm, one he was comfortable with for a change. "Ain't like there's no TV here." He grinned at her, an honest to God grin.

_I thought my singin' annoyed you. _

"_Ain't no jukebox." _

Beth beamed at him and leaned up and pecked him on the lips before settling back into her spot and opening the book to the first page. His hands drifted back to her legs and began stroking her lower leg now.

…"The Year that Buttercup was born, the most beautiful woman in the world….." She read him all about how Buttercup had been just of average beauty, nothing really special.

"Her name was Buttercup?" Daryl interrupted. He snorted. "Thought she was a Princess or some shit."

Beth looked at him primly. "She is a princess. Well she will be. Do you want to hear the story or not, Mr. Dixon?" She teased him.

Daryl's fingers stilled on her leg as she addressed him by his last name. It reminded him of their moonshine shack, back when they could barely tolerate each other. "Why you call me that?" He asked even as he nodded. He wanted to hear it. He liked her voice when she was reading and he could picture it all happening in his head. But first he wanted to know why she insisted on calling him by his last name.

Beth shrugged her shoulders. "It's sexy." She looked at him boldly, knowing she was treading a thin line. They usually left things like that unspoken between them. "Does it bother you?"

Daryl stared at her. Well, fuck when she put it like that, hell no, it didn't bother him. Daryl shrugged his shoulders. "'S alright." He smirked. "Okay, ain't gonna interrupt no more." He gestured to the book with one hand, letting his other trace lazy zig-zags on her leg. It was the most wonderful thing in the world being able to touch Beth, not having to ask if it was okay. She just let him know it was by leaning into his touch or giving him that look that said she felt it too. She felt all this between them just as much as he did.

Beth read on, telling all about how the farm boy Westley had fallen in love with Buttercup and she with him but neither knew it until Buttercup became bitterly jealous one day of the Countess come to visit and she decided that she must tell him how she felt lest he go running off with her.

She told him how Westley had slammed the door in her face and how bereft Buttercup had been and then how finally Westley had told her he was leaving. He was going away to America to find a home for them, a place where dreams would come true and they could live a happily ever after. He pledged his love to fair Buttercup.

…"_Every time you said 'farm boy do this" you thought I was answering 'as you wish' but that's only because you were hearing wrong. 'I love you' was what it was, but you never heard and you never heard."….._

"Stop." Daryl was surprised at his own tone there and he knew his face showed it even as Beth's expression mirrored his own.

"What's wrong?" Beth sat up closer to him and he laid his palms flat on her shins.

"What he said. Westley. That he did those things for Buttercup because he loved her." He thought his tongue might trip over the word but it didn't. Came right off his tongue like he'd been saying it for years.

Beth's heart began to beat in her chest at Daryl's words and she was suddenly so glad she had picked this book out at the library. She nodded encouragingly but Daryl seemed to be having trouble and Beth could not help but hold her breath.

Daryl searched for the right words, failing miserably. Beth's hands came out to cover his own, the book forgotten in her lap. He breathed in deep as her hands stilled over his, her fingers curling around his palms. "But he didn't say it. He said as you wish."

Beth nodded. "Yeah that's right. He did all those things for her. We do that sometimes. For the people that we love the most in the whole world. We show our love in our actions because it means more than words."

Daryl nodded back, thankful that Beth was gripping his hands now. "He said as you wish 'cause he would do anythin' for her. Just like I'd do anythin' for you." His eyes met hers and he just knew his heart was going to rattle its way right out through his ribs. He had never felt so scared of telling someone something in his entire life.

Beth knew her heart couldn't have felt any warmer, any fuller than it did right then. In his own way, Daryl Dixon had just told her something he had likely never told a living soul. That he loved her. Her eyes welled up with tears and she leaned towards him, her legs naturally scooting further across his lap. She wound her arms up around his neck, looking into his eyes. "I'd do anythin' for you too Daryl."

He knew what she meant. He got it. She loved him and he loved her and they'd go to the ends of the earth for the other. Hell, they already had.

"You know what's messed up?" Daryl murmured, her lips just inches from his.

"What?" Beth breathed. She felt like she was in a trance.

He looked deep into her sapphire orbs, sparking back at him. "Out there beyond those walls, the worst kind of monsters are out there. The people are even worse sometimes. But in here, in these four walls when it's just us? I feel like we got the fairy tale."

Beth looked at Daryl Dixon, her eyes wide and full of love and marveled at the man's intuition and she thought that surely he must be able to read her mind. Because hadn't she just thought that afternoon that her life couldn't get any better. "Let's put the book away for now and just make out."

Daryl picked up the book and sat it to the side and pulled her further into his lap and smiled and just before his lips met hers she heard him say. "As you wish."

**Hi guys! So I got out another chapter of this one and I hope you like it. So they got an almost admission of love. But Daryl's love language is giving and I could not think of a better way to draw that out than this lovely story. If you have not read S. Morganstern's timeless tale of true love, The Princess Bride, you MUST. And when you do, you will immediately think of Daryl. **

**I have had some inquiries about No Strings Attached and A Shady Affair. I promise I have not abandoned these. Shady is at a delicate phase and my brain is not quite right with the MSF and all the theories I've been cooking up. I will know when the time is right to finish that one. I just don't want to mess it up. No Strings update is hopefully coming this weekend. Plus another chapter of Heavenly. If things are not bad enough, my muse has lost her mind and wants me to write not one new story, but two! But since No Strings and Shady are not too far from finishing I might be able to manage. These are the lies my muse convinces me to believe. **

**So how about that Normily huh? That was seriously the best thing ever and I cannot even with those two. Okay, that's enough for now. SHOUTOUT to every single person that reads and recs and reviews this story. 80 follows on a 5 chapter fic? Thanks guys SO MUCH! Makes me so happy! So until next time, xoxoxoxo **


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Beth could count on one hand the times she had masturbated since the world went bad. Until this past week that is. She went to bed nearly every night an ache low in her belly the likes of which she had never felt. And inevitably she would go to her room and find herself thinking of Daryl's lips on hers at the same time his hands roamed over her body. It always ended with her hand between her legs, fingers working at a furious pace until she bit back a cry, coming with Daryl's name on her lips.

Tonight was one of those nights. Except for whatever reason tonight she just couldn't make it happen. No matter how many times she tried to picture Daryl's hands working her over, she longed for it to be the real thing. She had never longed for anything as much in her entire life. She tossed and turned after finally giving up, wondering when in the world he would ever touch her in the way she longed to be touched. She flopped on her back and threw her arm over her forehead. The man was a gentleman to a fault and it was bound to be the death of her.

She started at a knock at the door.

"Beth?" His deep voice came from the other side of her bedroom door.

Beth flushed at the realization that she must have been making noises. She arranged her covers nervously calling back through the door. "You can come in." She sat up and she could just barely make out his silhouette in the doorway.

He crossed the threshold and walked over to the bed. "You okay? Y' were makin' an awful lot of racket. Thought maybe you were havin' a bad dream. I get 'em too."

Beth flushed even further. How could she tell him that she wasn't having a nightmare. What she been having was more of a wet dream. "I'm sorry. I just can't sleep." She nodded to the bed beside her and watched in awe as he sat down carefully beside her. Tried not to move a single muscle as he scooted next to her on the bed, sitting up and leaning back against the wall, a mirror of her pose. Beth drew her knees up and turned her head up to look at him.

"I couldn't sleep either." He shook his head to clear the bangs from his eyes. Beth watched as he worried his lip between his teeth. "What's keepin' you from sleepin?"

Beth let out a puff of air. It was always a conundrum trying to figure out if she should tell him absolutely everything and she waited a beat before speaking. She decided that they'd been more than honest with one another so far and that she should not balk at it now.

"Guess our makin' out got me kinda?" Beth searched for the right word and flushed.

"Yeah, I know what ya mean." She noticed that Daryl was quick to interject his agreement, saving her from having to name this for what it really was. They were both horny as hell but were unsure how to proceed in their relationship.

"I don't know if we're supposed ta do," she faltered. "More."

Daryl nodded. "Mhmm." He hummed his response. "Was thinkin' the same thing."

Beth's eyes cut to his and she noticed that he wasn't looking away. "How much more?" Beth barely breathed her question.

Daryl shrugged and squinted his eyes. "'S up to you."

Beth shook her head slowly. "No, it's up to both of us." She waited for him to nod his head in agreement. He had to know that they were in this together. That they made every decision together. Togeher. Her and Daryl Dixon. It blew her mind sometimes.

She was still feeling that awe and wonder as their heads drifted towards one another and their lips met in a sweet hesitancy, all breathy sighs and strained bodies, holding away from one another. It was new territory, both because they'd never really talked about this much and because they were in a bed. They were in her bed and they were kissing and all at once Beth's breathing quickened and her hands drifted to Daryl's abdomen. She waited for him to pull away and when he didn't her heart thundered beneath her breastbone. She wanted to touch his bare skin. More than anything and in turn she wanted him to touch hers. Her fingers gripped the hem of his shirt and she played with the edges for a second before just plunging ahead and lifting the hem running her fingers over the flat hard plane of his belly. He was all sinew and muscle, all hardness and masculinity and his scent filled her nostrils and carried all the way down to between her legs where moisture was pooling there already.

She involuntarily arched her back pressing her chest against him and she held her breath as she felt his fingers skimming up her ribcage, his fingers bunching up the fabric of her thin t-shirt. She moaned into his mouth and feared for a horrible moment that would be the end of this and he would run back to his room, scared that they had gone too far, but he responded with a moan of his own as she raked her fingernails across his lower abdomen, just barely grazing the button of his pants.

"Touch me please, Daryl." Her breathy request came spilling from her lips and she felt his presence just a little closer opening her eyes finding that he was just barely holding himself off of her. Somehow they had worked themselves closer to each other and she was pressed to him, breathless and wanting. She saw the heaviness in his eyes, his blackened pupils and knew he was just as turned on as she was.

"Where?" the question surprised her as much as the helpless look on his face. She realized in that moment that he really didn't know how to do this anymore than she did and it broke her heart all over again at this wonderful man she loved.

Beth went on instinct. She'd seen him checking out her ass enough times to know he wanted to touch her there. She silently brought her hand away from his abdomen and never taking her eyes from his she climbed on top of him, straddling him, placing her legs on either side of his hips, seating herself in his lap. Her heart beat so fast she thought it might come barreling out of her chest at any moment. She watched as his lips parted slightly. He still hadn't moved his hands from his sides.

"Close your eyes." She whispered and watched as Daryl complied.

She reached down and gripped his hands where they rested at his sides and pulled them behind her, placing his palms firmly against her ass. Her eyes fluttered closed for a second and she moaned at the contact Daryl's eyes flew open and locked on hers.

"There." She leaned forward and captured her lips with his. His lips parted willingly and she slipped her tongue inside his mouth. His hands didn't do anything at first but Beth brought her hands up to where his rested against her ass and pulled them firmly against the flesh there. Beth groaned as she felt his palms firmly grip her ass on either side and she gasped in pleasure as he suddenly jolted her forward pulling her against him more firmly. She was molded to him in every way and she could feel his hardness against her surely soaked pants. She wondered if he could feel the wetness there and thinking about Daryl knowing how wet she was, how much she wanted him, nearly had her in a frenzy. His kisses were just as breathless as hers were and she couldn't help but wonder how long they could keep up this momentum. Soon one of Daryl's hands strayed from her ass and crept up her back, working its way under her shirt, the rough of his palm meeting the bare skin of her back. Beth involuntarily arched against him, her breasts jutting against her t-shirt.

"Daryl." She breathed.

"Beth." His breathy reply was more of a moan. A plea. A whisper in the dark for all the nights they had spent apart either before she was ripped away from him or since they had been reunited here in this place.

Hearing her own name as a breathy cry was the undoing of the moment. She was overcome by sudden burning need and ground herself down against him, aching for that contact, acting on instinct and she felt the moment he stiffened up. It was too much.

She slid off his lap slowly and brought her fingers to her lips and looked at him and couldn't help the giggle that slipped from her lips shaking her head. She looked up at him grinning. "Like a couple teenagers."

Daryl looked at her outburst in surprise and she saw the quirk of his lips and he dropped his head and she noticed then his shoulders were shaking lightly. He looked up, the mirth evident in his eyes. "Damn Greene, you're gonna be the death of me."

"Oh you're one to talk, Mr. Dixon." Beth says. She doesn't finish her sentence. She doesn't have to. She settles down beside him and lays her head on his shoulder, them all relaxed in her bed like it's something they do every day.

Maybe they could do this after all. It'd probably take them a month of Sundays to get around to anything more than what they'd just done but one thing was sure, she was enjoying every minute of it.

"There ya go, makin' me feel old again." She knew he was referring to the Mr. Dixon and she smirked at him.

"I think ya more than proved a minute ago you're anythin' but old." Beth looked at him knowingly and he rolled his eyes.

"You gonna try to get some sleep or not Greene?" He said and she rolled her eyes right back at him, but settled down against his shoulder, a sudden yawn overtaking her.

"Gonna try." She stifled her answering yawn and didn't question the fact that he was offering to sleep in here with her. Somehow she knew that she'd spent her last night sleeping alone and she was just fine with it. More than fine.

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter is all from Beth's point of view and the next one will be from Daryl's. They have obvious crossed a threshold in their relationship and there are obviously going to be some light repercussions. So we'll see where that goes next time. Don't worry. It won't be Daryl going off into a huff. I promise. I have a little something different in mind. So stay tuned, this story is just getting to the good stuff. Now that my ZA fix has been somewhat satiated, I can concentrate on my AU's. Next slated for update is No Strings Attached. ;) Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter of Eyes of the Heart. Leave me love on your way out. Xoxoxoxo <strong>


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

For the whole next day, Daryl couldn't stop thinking about Beth's ass. Every time she walked by him in her skin tight pants and long sweatshirt, his fingers itched to reach out and put his hands on her.

But in the light of day, he was thinking too much like he usually did. Beth watched him carefully like he might snap at any minute and she'd be right, but not because he'd be upset. He just felt like he was a tightly wound watch right now and the least little thing would have him coming unraveled.

He had kissed right after lunch and other than a few hand brushes and when he'd pressed his lips to the side of her head when he'd gone down the road to pick up their weekly rations, they'd not come too close to one another.

As he went to sleep that night, their light kissing session abandoned mid-stride when they thought they had heard a noise. After that, the mood was broken and they eventually drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>Daryl could not stop thinking about Beth's ass. Again. She lay sleeping beside him and here he was staring at the ceiling like some dumbstruck teenage boy. His thoughts traveled back to two nights before. He had touched Beth Greene's ass. Not only touched it, but gripped it firmly in his hands. He couldn't describe exactly how he had felt, her lips on his, his tongue exploring her mouth, tasting like the peaches they'd had for supper. He couldn't quite think of the words to fully describe how it had felt her seated on his lap, her delicate fingers threading through his hair.<p>

If he had to think of one word he was thinking while his fingers pressed into the soft flesh of her perfectly shaped ass, it would be Heaven. Because as he had laid back on the bed, Beth's perfect body above his and she moaned into his mouth as he touched her, he knew he'd never felt anything more perfect. And not just touching her, the way she made him feel when he did. Like he was doing something right, something good. She had liked it. He grew hard just thinking about it, how her breathing had hitched and her soft little gasps and the way she said his name.

He knew he'd reacted badly when she'd ground herself down onto him but it had just struck him in that moment when he'd moaned her name that this was Beth. This was Beth he was kissing and Beth he was holding in his arms and goddammit it was Beth who was pressing herself into him like she'd like nothing else but him to be buried deep inside her. It had thrilled him that he'd been able to elicit that response from her at the same time it had terrified him.

He was bad at this shit. He knew it. Hell she probably knew it too. When the muted grey light of morning started to creep between the slats on the blinds he turned his head to study the object of all his thoughts. She looked like a damn angel laying there, hair all fanned out above her on the pillow, eyes closed, lashes resting on her cheeks. She was so damn beautiful sometimes it hurt to look at her. For the life of him, he'd never be able to figure out what it was she saw in him but he didn't much care these days.

He felt like his mind was in a whirlwind, thinking the strangest and most turned around thoughts all at the same time. Wanting Beth in the worst way, but looking at her sleeping like this, so innocent, so untouched, he couldn't help but think it was all wrong. But in his heart, he knew. He knew he was meant to love her. He still wasn't ready to say it, but he knew what he felt was love. Knew it like he knew his own skin.

He looked at the scars on her face and wanted to go back to that damn hospital and tear the place down, board by fucking board and slaughter every last one of them until they bled like she'd bled. Until they hurt like she had hurt and if it wasn't for the fact that Beth said he was taken care of, he'd like to go back and rip the balls of the sumbitch that ever dared to lay his filthy hands on her. He was glad Beth had told him he hadn't gotten far. He didn't know what he'd have done. Some men in this world had done the worst kinds of things to women before the turn, but now? It was even worse. World had gone to hell in a hand basket and assholes like that prick cop could still only think about getting their dick wet.

He shifted in the bed and she stirred beside him, the first tendrils of consciousness gracing her face, her brow furrowed a bit as she stretched. She opened her eyes and met his gaze. She didn't seem surprised in the least that he was awake. "Mornin'." She said sleepily.

"It's still early." Daryl said, his voice hoarse from sleep.

Beth stretched, her back arching and she scooted closer to him, snaking her arm over his chest, gripping his side. He inhaled deeply. She smelled of strawberries and spring time and still like the damned peaches they'd had the night before and suddenly all he wanted to do was kiss her because he remembered how sweet her lips tasted. But it was still new to him, waking up beside her like this. Was he supposed to kiss her?

As if reading his mind she looked up at him, smiled softly at him, her baby blues seeking his like she just knew he was struggling like hell this morning. "You know, when two lovers wake up in the morning, they usually kiss."

Daryl snorted. "Mmmm. That what we are?" He nearly held his breath while he waited for her answer not letting himself what it might mean if she said yes. He'd entertained the thoughts. Hell of course he had. If he was going on pure instinct and desire, he would have already taken her. If that's what she wanted. So he waited for her response.

Beth shrugged and sat up a little, gazing down at him, her shirt slipping over her shoulder, hair tumbling forward onto his chest. His eyes were instantly drawn to the creamy expanse of bare skin at her neck and he longed to press his lips there and drink in her intoxicating scent.

He had been telling Beth the truth when he told her about his experience with other women. It was limited to say the least. But touching Beth was like a damn drug. A drug he wanted more of. He had never been one to do all the shit that Merle had done but if doing what Merle had done made him feel anything like this, well, for the first time in his life he thought he might understand.

"Of course we are, Daryl." She blushed a little and he thought the color looked good on her cheeks. Maybe when they figured all this out that could be a bonus. He smirked. "Well I mean we haven't done _that_ yet but…" Her voice trailed off. "What do you think we are?"

Daryl took a deep breath and sighed. He didn't honestly know. He shook his head slightly. "I 'unno." He shrugged his shoulders.

She waited patiently, watching him while he thought on it, bringing his thumb up to his lips, worrying the skin between his teeth. He watched, entranced, as Beth brought her hand up to his and pulled his thumb from his mouth and rubbed the pad of her thumb gently over the gnarled skin. She looked directly in his eyes as she rubbed back and forth, as if she was trying to erase his worry.

His heartbeat returned to a somewhat normal pace which was crazy because he felt sure she would be able to hear it, how strongly it beat inside his chest at her touch. "Maybe we just belong to each other."

Beth looked at him thoughtfully. "Like I'm yours."

Daryl's heartbeat sped up again and soared inside his chest, his ears ringing at her words. He nodded. "Mmmhmmm. And I'm yours."

She smiled brightly at him and he thought maybe he'd tell her that everyday. I'm yours, Beth. It tugged on him somewhere deep, somewhere he couldn't reach. He let it sink in that he belonged to someone as good as her. That he belonged anywhere, really.

He watched as Beth brought her hand up to his hair, thread her fingers through it. "It's gotten longer." She remarked.

"Yeah, didn't see no barber yet." The rest of them had. Rick's was the most noticeable. He looked more like the man who'd arrived on her farm a lifetime ago with his shaved beard and neatly trimmed hair. "Don't want nobody touchin' my hair I don't know."

"Would you let me do it?" Beth said softly as she looked into his eyes. Damn if her baby blues didn't draw him in and have him nodding his head like it was his idea all along she take a pair of scissors to his head.

"You ever cut hair though?" Daryl asked her, one eyebrow raised. He supposed it didn't really matter much. Wasn't nobody to impress except Beth and somehow he figured she wouldn't care one way or another.

Beth giggled. "My dolls. Does that count?"

Daryl chuckled lightly. "No, it don't count Greene. But it don't matter. I mean, sure you can cut it." Daryl flushed bright red as he tried to get out the simple words that he would let her do it.

She grinned at him then. "Guess we better wait til full light." She hopped up from the bed suddenly.

"Where ya goin'?" This woman bounced around more than anyone he'd ever seen.

"I gotta pee." Beth said over her shoulder as she walked into the bathroom that joined onto her bedroom. He couldn't help but notice her ass as she walked away, especially since he came to the abrupt realization that she was wearing nothing but her t-shirt and a pair of tiny white panties that just barely covered what she had. She left the door open and he could see straight in where she was. He looked away discreetly just as he'd done all those weeks they were out on their own after the prison.

She came back into the room and climbed back onto the bed. She sat across from him, criss-crossing her legs in front of her. The t-shirt she had on just barely covered the tops of her thighs and Daryl's eyes were drawn between her legs. He'd seen plenty of Beth before, but not like this. Not in such an intimate setting.

Now that she was sitting the way she was, the thin scrap of material did even less to cover her and he could make out the tangle of curls through the white fabric. Just before he looked away, his mouth went dry wondering how she would taste. He wasn't an idiot and Merle had talked about pussy like it was some damn delicacy but Daryl had never seen the appeal in it. Until now.

He looked back up and saw that she had been watching him intently. "Do you like looking at me Daryl?" His eyes snapped to hers. He thought he might find humor there. But she was serious and what was more, pretty little Beth Greene's eyes had gone black as night, her pupils blown wide with unmistakable desire.

Daryl nodded slowly. He wasn't sure what to say but he wasn't going to lie. He liked looking at her very much.

"Maybe this is the more we can do." She said slowly, rearranging her legs so they were tucked under her.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "What's more?" He wasn't sure he was following but then again, he was pretty sure all blood supply was cut off to his brain in favor of a different part of his body.

"Looking. Maybe if we look more and touch a little less then we don't go too far before we're ready to." Her eyes had taken on that look she got when she didn't know if he'd agree with her or not.

He nodded. "'S fine by me. We can still touch some though right?"

Beth grinned and nodded at him as she climbed back onto his lap, just like last night, except this time the covers separated them. She brought her hands up to his shoulders, bracing herself against him as she settled her pelvis against his. "Did you have something in particular in mind you wanted to touch, Mr. Dixon?"

He grinned against her lips, going in for a kiss. And without even thinking about it, he brought his hands up to her ass, his palms flush with her backside and squeezed.

He pulled away and looked at her. "Did you have anything in mind you wanted to touch Greene?" He smirked.

"Thought you'd never ask." She said and dipped her head to his, her lips fitting over his like she meant to kiss him all morning long. And if Daryl had his say, that's exactly what was going to happen.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay guys, there it is. What do you think? It's a slow burn discovery of each other and I hope this is coming out like I want it to. It's a slippery slope they are on trying to figure things out. I just kind of imagine them both being inexperienced and learning with each other. Let me know what you think and thanks as always for the reviews, favorites and follows. You guys are aweome! Until next time, xoxoxo <strong>


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